5 REASONS IMPLEMENTATIONS GO OFF THE RAILS

GOVERNANCE - Where is your 'adult' supervision

The first order of business when embarking on any LIMS project is to establish your project governance approach. Effective project governance is based on three pillars.

1. Structure - defines the organizational structure as it pertains to the implementation
2. People - defines the executive/leadership commitment to governing the implementation
3. Information - defines the processes and data that will be needed to govern the implementation

Some of the initial duties of the governance team will be to clearly articulate the business goals and expected timelines. These need to be the guiding constraints that ensure that scope creep, the number one killer of all implementations, is contained. Any breach of these 'guard rails' will need the governance committee's blessing and the constraints adjusted, such as time and/or cost.

A well define governance process will almost certainly set your implementation up for success and we have the expertise to know what a life sciences project implementation needs in that department.

RESOURCES - You never have enough

One of the biggest fallacies of any LIMS Project is thinking that your, already over capacity, internal resources will be able to take on extra duties needed to deliver the project, be it a full implementation, upgrade or enhancement.

Almost all LIMS projects miss their deadlines is because of over utilization of the clinical or IT staff who have a 'day job'. Furthermore, employers expect their existing staff to not only contribute to the project, but also take on the project over sight duties such as creating project project plans, documenting requirements, creating test plans, creating test scripts and test execution.

We have experienced resources in all these areas who can remove the burden from your team allowing them to contribute in the most effective manner. The additional cost is easily out weighed by the savings gained on a well run project, delivered on time with no missed opportunity cost due to delayed go-lives.

DOCUMENTATION - "If it isn't written down it didn't happen" (Philippe Kruchten)

Confusion around direction and decisions can at best delay a project and at worst derail it entirely. Having different teams on a project heading in different directions is completely disruptive leading to missed deliverables and dependencies. A project is typically a living breathing entity that will change and morph as it goes through it's lifecycle. A business doesn't stand still while a system is implemented. There are plenty of times when a project will need to change direction and pivot based on changing business imperatives or new information coming to light.

Documenting these changes is key to ensuring that project can be re-aligned to the new direction or information. However, having too much documentation that is redundant or duplicative is also just as bad as no one knows what documentation to trust. Our process has been designed to ensure the right amount of documentation is collected at the right points in the project. So when a decision is made, or new information comes to light, is easy to identify the areas that will be affected and update the documentation to reflect the new direction and actions.

COMMUNICATION - The difference between management and leadership

Communicating to the right level with the right information at the right time is the art of communication. How that information is imparted so that message 'sticks' is the key. Too much information and the message is lost, to little information and the message is never heard. Getting the right amount of information to the team and management, when they need it will ensure a smooth delivery process.

Project structure, and the communication points ensures that the needed information is exchanged to the right level at the right cadence. Our project structure has been developed to dictate the communication channels are open and flowing to ensure the team is coherent and collaborative.

CHANGE MANAGEMENT - Will your users embrace or revolt? It's up to you.

A LIMS project can be perfectly run and delivered on time, within budget ... and completely fail. If the user community is not ready for, or even hostile to the changes the new system will impose, then even the most well executed project will be torpedoed. It is essential to bring the user groups along with the project. They need to be involved and engaged in the changes, not just from the management perspective, but more importantly from the grass-roots.

A successful LIMS project will have included the user community from the very beginning, and ensure their involvement throughout the project. Explaining the 'what' is going to be needed, but also explaining the 'how' and, most importantly the 'why' is essential. Just tell the user what is coming and explaining how their jobs will be affected is not enough. Most projects underestimate their users, and believe that they just need to know what is coming. But it is the understanding of the 'why' that will drive lowing the resistance. No one likes disruption, but if you understand the reasons, and what that will do for the company, and ultimately 'me', then you will be likely to buy into that disruption. There are many ways to accomplish and it depends upon the company's culture, the size of the company, how cross-functional is the project, and lots of other factors to consider. There is no silver bullet, but by working closely with your leadership team, we will weave into the project the best approach to gaining user acceptanc and ultimataely advocacy, essential to the projects success.

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